Now in theaters: More than regular movies

"Motherhood has been the peak experience of my life," she said. "This told me he still treasured that."

That's not the sort of thing you're likely to hear coming out of "Wolverine" or some other movie blockbuster. But not everyone goes to the movie theater to see movies these days.

What began as a modest trickle five years ago — a Matchbox Twenty concert playing on just 40 screens, Kenny Chesney performing a few acoustic songs from a Nashville studio — has grown into a steady stream of full-length operas, standup comedy shows and even Warren Buffett-led panel discussions being beamed live into hundreds of theaters nationwide.

This so-called "alternative content" programming usually screens live just once in a handful of metro-area multiplexes, sometimes followed by a taped "encore" showing a few days later. The programs frequently offer extras not seen at the actual performance venue, and give audiences a chance to see well-known personalities working outside their usual "boxes." Dr. Laura showed off her yoga prowess, for instance; Fox News host Glenn Beck will beam a comedy show to movie theaters next month.

NGC Fathom, the entertainment division of a consortium of some of the country's largest movie chains, including AMC and Regal, brought 47 such events to its theaters in 2008, an average of almost one a week. That's up from 22 in 2006.

Observers attribute the jump to recent advances in technology and an increased willingness by performers in a wider variety of fields to strut their stuff in front of popcorn munchers. The current recession, meanwhile, has audiences more open to cheaper entertainment experiences that are the next best thing to being there.

NASCAR a possibility

"The biggest hurdle when we started out was just convincing people to give it a try," said Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Columbus-based Carmike Cinemas, which started exploring alternative content programming two years ago.

In January, Carmike (which isn't part of Fathom) carried the live telecast of college football's BCS championship game in 35 of its theaters around the country, including the Conyers Crossroads 16 in Rockdale County. Now, Hurst says of major events like that, "It's something that's going to be expected to be available in the near future."

No individual theater chains will release ticket sales or attendance figures for these one-time events. But anecdotal evidence suggests a growing trend, particularly in Georgia, which routinely lands in the top 10 among states in numbers of theaters screening alternative events:

» Going into the 11th and final 2009 performance on May 9 ("La Cenerentola"), more than 1.5 million people had seen the Metropolitan Opera broadcast live in movie theaters this year, according to the New York opera company. That's up from the 325,000 who watched six operas during the first season of "The Met: Live in HD" in 2006-07. Nearly 500 theaters (15 in Georgia) carried the Met this year, according to NCM Fathom. The first season, only 113 took part.

» Schlessinger, whose no-nonsense approach to dispensing radio advice has made her the No. 1-rated female talker, made her live movie theater debut on May 5. She joined two other well-known names who made the leap from radio and TV to the big screen in the past year: Public radio's Ira Glass hosted "This American Life Live!" for the second time last month. And "Glenn Beck's Common Sense Tour Live!" will beam into theaters on June 4. Last year, nearly 100,000 people attended two similar Beck events, NCM Fathom says.

» Move over Matchbox Twenty: Besides the Met and Dr. Laura, other alternative content offerings in May have run the gamut from comedy ("Stand-Up 360") to drum corps competition ("DCI 2009: The Countdown"). In August, NCM Fathom will begin transmitting performances by the New York Theater Ballet, including a live version of "The Nutcracker" in December.

Meanwhile, Hurst says Carmike has been looking into the possibility of showing live NASCAR races and WWE wrestling matches.

"Doing basketball games or NASCAR on a giant screen in 3-D would offer something you couldn't possibly get sitting in a sports bar or watching at home," said Hurst. "It's all about keeping Joe Average entertained."

Filling empty seats

It's also all about current technology. Carmike recently completed digital projection upgrades in all 250 of its theaters, and many other chains are following suit.

From live, high-quality showings of "Madame Butterfly" or Warren Buffett et al. discussing the documentary "I.O.U.S.A." to a Miley Cyrus concert in 3-D, much more is possible now.

"The technology is finally there to bring more of these kinds of events into the building," said Chad Browning, marketing manager for Regal Cinemas. "If everybody throughout the country is still running 35-millimeter [film], you can forget about this happening."

Originally, the goal was just to get more fannies into theater seats (and sell more wading-pool-sized tubs of popcorn), particularly on weeknights and in winter.

When Fathom did its first test event in 2002, a Korn concert, movie attendance was starting to take a serious hit from the DVD and home theater markets. It was hard enough persuading people to give up their Barcaloungers and big-screen TV's for anything less than an eagerly anticipated blockbuster's opening — let alone some so-so flick in its third week of release on a weeknight in March.

"From the very beginning, our mission was to create unique experiences and utilize movie theaters primarily during non-peak hours," said Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom. "Most do the majority of their business on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Our goal was to have theaters become places where fans can gather seven days a week."

Which explains why "Dr. Laura Live! In Praise of Mom" played on a Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Discover Mills 18, three days before "Star Trek" arrived to pack audiences into two theaters. And why the 3½-hour telecast of "La Cenerentola" at the Regal Hollywood Stadium 24 occurred on a Saturday afternoon when the capacity audience might normally have been outside enjoying the balmy May weather.

"I think it's a great, very creative use of the theaters," said Bonnie Timms, 29, an Atlanta attorney who'd met her mother, Nancy Morris, for dinner and the Dr. Laura show at Discover Mills. "It's educational, but you also get to have an evening out."

Tradeoffs and perks

Tickets for this particular "evening out" cost $21 apiece — about twice the cost of the most expensive movie ticket in Atlanta. But Schlessinger arguably worked hard for the money during the 100-minute show, telling amusing stories about giving birth and rearing children, answering questions submitted by audience members in California, tearily talking live to her soldier son in Afghanistan, and even slipping into uniform to join a group of UCLA cheerleaders in a rousing "rah, rah!" for mothers.

A ticket to the Met's "La Cenerentola" cost $22 — $5 less than the cheapest, "partial view" seat for the actual performance in New York, had one been available.

"You miss the magic of a live performance," said Decatur resident Ed Baldinger, who attended the Met with his wife when they lived in New York. Now they frequent "The Met: Live in HD" in movie theaters. "But we paid for eight tickets here what we paid for one there."

Watching opera in a movie theater requires certain tradeoffs: Someone in the Hollywood 24 loudly crunched popcorn throughout a particularly stirring aria, and there was no lobby bar where one could sip pinot noir and rub elbows with the Chamblee hoi polloi during intermission.

On the other hand, the in-theater telecast featured priceless peeks at what goes on backstage at a performance; the host, world-famous baritone Thomas Hampson even buttonholed "La Cenerentola's" stars for interviews during intermission.

With a fourth season of "The Met: Live in HD," featuring appearances by Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming, scheduled to start Oct. 10, it appears there's no stopping the non-movie infiltration of movie screens.

Well, almost no stopping it.

"You will not see a lot of alternative content programming during the summer months," predicted Carmike's Hurst. "I wouldn't want to see opera trying to compete with 'Harry Potter.' "